5/08/2013

from ViewPoint | The Truth About Lead Generationby Guest BloggerAndy Gray is a senior marketing professional with proven expertise in directing, centralizing, and strengthening how customers are acquired and retained as well as how companies are positioned through marketing strategies, demand generation, sales support and enablement programs, market research and product development. You can connect with Andy on LinkedIn or via email.
How often do we hear, “what’s the value that you marketing folks provide to the organization?” How often do we deal with the first round of annual budget cuts hitting marketing first?
If we do our job right and we develop marketing that is customer-focused, enlightens customers with the unexpected, resonates directly to them, helps explain the “why” of our products or features and, we measure and adapt learning based on why we win what we win or lose what we lose, marketing should be valued by those who pay our salary.
Yet, not all companies get marketing. They can measure sales and create metrics for operations and finance but too often companies ask where the value is in marketing. Yes, the web and social media provide metrics and, that enables marketing to show results, ROI and possibly gain value with regard to the marketing mix that use these media. We can always calculate cost per lead, acquisition costs and other related metrics.
Yet, still, marketing budgets get cut first. What if, to be counted, we make marketing as accountable as Sales with similar metrics? Make the process connect. It's not just sales enablement; it's also marketing enablement.
Should we go further? Should Marketing be provided with a quota and even be paid commission? Should we simply, for example, measure the accounts closed, the sales that result pre vs. post, the incremental revenue achieved, the ROI for each sales stat? All the other cost measures are great, but wouldn’t simple sales stats justify our seat at the table?
Let me know if you have justified Marketing’s value and enabled marketing budgets to escape the first and even second cut and what metrics, outside of digital tracking data, do you use? And, would you be OK with having a quota to deliver and get paid on it?

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Reg Nordman is the Managing Partner for Rocket Builders, a sales and marketing consultancy for high growth companies. He works with large and small companies such as , Asentus, Maximizer, Sophos, Microsoft Canada, and Research in Motion. Previously he has worked in direct and channel sales for major firms such as Unisys and Commodore.

Over the past 30 years this experience has spanned mining engineering at Anaconda Mines, teaching elementary and high school, working for the BC Provincial Government, lecturing on computing for the University of Victoria and University of British Columbia, sales for Unisys, Commodore, and Simply Computing/Strider Computer Centres, TNL Group, Westpro Construction, and Merit Consultants International. For his clients, Reg assists them in breaking through various sales and marketing challenges to grow the business. Using RocketBuilders Precision Sales and Marketing process he helps CEOS understand the dirty little secret about Sales and Marketing. What is that secret ? It has two parts. One, 95% of the money spent today by Sales and Marketing departments is “wasted” . Two, 100% close rations can be achieved.Â Reg is focused on getting clients “more effective selling time”.Reg has been publishing executive book reviews for his clients since 2002, and a blog since 2004. He has a BASc. (Mining) from the University of British Columbia, an M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) from the University of Victoria and a Diploma in Management Skills in Applied Technology from Simon Fraser University. He is a member of the UBC Keevil School of Mines Industry Advisory Committee and has served on numerous community volunteer groups.